THEORY OF GROUP COMBAT
written by Landogar.


Group combat

One would except the main advantage with a bigger number of players lies in the greater strength.

This is wrong!
(in Darkfall and in RL, it is right in most MMOs with easier, more static combat systems)

- only a few players can fight effectively against one individual enemy at the same time
(applies absolutely to melee combat, partially to ranged combat)

- Friendly fire (= hitting the own people) can cause massive damage, especially with bigger groups or in difficult terrain

- Wrong sense of security (we are more!) leads quickly to much incautiousness


The main advantage of multiple players is that more players = means more distraction of the enemy!
(that you can also see in PvE, even when it is a quite different kind of fighting compared to PvP)

The coordinated teamplay as group has therefore following goals:

- Distraction
- Regeneration
- Overcharging
- Disturbing
- Keeping structure
- Ordered Retreat

Distraction:
Divert the enemy from weakened fighters (health/stamina/strong debuffs/computer problems)

Regeneration:
Get time for the weakened fighters to become fully operational again,
if possible support them (healing in secure place)

Overcharging:
Surprise and confuse the enemy with tactical maneuvers,
break the coordination of the adverse group
(the enemy shall forget to attack, he shall forget to defend himself)

Disturbing:
Detain the enemy from doing several actions, depending on the situation
(to revive, to loot, to escape, to gather/recover coordination, regearing at bank, destroying object, and so on)

Keep structure:
When enemy is trying to overcharge us, to keep the coordination as team

Ordered Retreat:
If the enemy is superior, to retreat ordered, then a new attack will be possible


Army structure

Keeping the overview over all this things isn't possible for every individual fighter of the group (while fighting fully at the same time).
Decisions what every fighter should do to achieve these goals must be made fast,
always depending on the actions of the enemy.
To get to a decision as group is often difficult and needs much time,
this isn't possible in PvP.

Hence the division in parties with each having one leader who must have the overview and who makes the decisions.
Without such a system must every single fighter keeping the overview over all following points:

- keeping his/her status (health/stamina/mana/food/regeants) under control
- staying with group
- fighting (aiming/hitting/shooting/healing)
- keeping an eye on movement (where are we going?)
- keeping an eye on the goal of the mission (again, why are we doing this?)
- keeping overview of the positions and state of all other fighters
- evaluating the enemy (knowing clans & players, knowing politics)
- evaluating the terrain
- coordination with teammates
- making decisions as group and backing them

With 2-3 players is this possible, even with 10-15 players if they know each other and their styles of fighting
extrem well and played together for a very long time, else it will with nearly 100% probability end in chaos.

Not every player is keen in all the points above (terrain, evaluating enemies),
and tactical decisions are nearly impossible.
But as soon as a group doesn't play as one unit, when it stops fighting as one body, instead playing as a loose assemblage
of lone fighters, all team advantages are completly lost!

The maximal number of people in one party is limited to 10 people in Darkfall.
More player don't fit in the same party, are not recognizable from the party-shield
and aren't visible on the minimap, which impacts heavely he overview for the fighters and the leader.

Because of this reason, as also so the leader can keep the overview,
should an as unit acting PvP-group consist of maximal 5 to 10 players inclusive 1 leader.
If the leader doesn't feel confident enough to keep overview over ~10 players,
the group should be split up into 2 groups.

With 10+ players should multiple parties be created with one leader each,
and additional a commander who is directing the leaders and who coordinates the groups as compact units.

If there are even more players participating, should there be accordingly more "coordinators",
so everyone hasn't to care about more then 5-10 units. For the squadleader one unit = one player,
For the occasionally cases of more commanders, for them one unit is one group of players, or one unit is even made of multiple groups.

This system divides responsibility in the following way:

[b] - Standard fighter:

• keeping his/her status under control (health/stamina/mana/food/regeants)
  
• obeying the orders of the squad leader
  
• to stay with the group (or at the position the leader ordered)
  
• fighting (aiming/hitting/shooting/healing)
  

= Leader:

• keeping the team together
  
• coordinating team
  
• keeping overview of position and state (health) of every team member (with minimap/party window/communication)
  
• evaluating terrain (tactical use, spots, towers)
  
• evaluating enemies (knowing clans & players)
  
• rudimental tactics
  
• fighting
  

^ Commander:

• coordinating units
  
• keeping overview of position and state of every unit (with communication)
  
• ordering scouts
  
• evaluate terrain (tactical use, spots, towers, banks, cities)
  
• evaluate enemies (knowing politics / relations)
  
• army tactics (how to use the individual units?)
  

This division is used to limit the responsibility respectively scope
of the single player so he/she can keep the overview and act in the right way.[/b]